The present invention relates to a liquid flowmeter apparatus having an electrical output for providing signals representative of volume flow and having a self-checking feature for monitoring pump wear and wobble.
The invention is particularly adaptable for use with a gear-type liquid flowmeter, wherein liquid flow is passed through a chamber having a pair of meshed gears causing the gears to rotate in step with the liquid volume passing through the flowmeter. The use of electrical signaling elements in conjunction with a liquid flowmeter is not itself a new technology, for various forms of magnetic sensors have been used for this purpose in the past. However, the present invention combines the electrical signal function to a higher degree of precision, combined with a self-checking function to enable the system to detect when the mechanical flowmeter components have departed from predefined specifications.